NJ ASK (Standardized Testing)

NJ Middle schoolers are taking the NJ ASK tests this week. This it our state standardized tests. The have been testing since Monday so after 3 days of testing which included ILA (English for us old folks) and Math, Science is today, I asked her how it was so far. I was curious if anyone from her class had panic attacks so they had to go to the nurse or opted out like the horror stories Cop posted about the NY State tests.

She said it was easy. Worst part is it is long and boring. She also raved about the essay she wrote. She was very proud of it. Told me all about it, about the vocabulary words she had learned and included in it, how she had a paragraph with a counter point, etc. She was very proud of it and you could see she was very prepared by our school. I asked a couple of her friends about it at softball practice too. They all had similar comments about it being easy and boring. No big deal.

NJ Middle schoolers are taking the NJ ASK tests this week. This it our state standardized tests. The have been testing since Monday so after 3 days of testing which included ILA (English for us old folks) and Math, Science is today, I asked her how it was so far. I was curious if anyone from her class had panic attacks so they had to go to the nurse or opted out like the horror stories Cop posted about the NY State tests.

She said it was easy. Worst part is it is long and boring. She also raved about the essay she wrote. She was very proud of it. Told me all about it, about the vocabulary words she had learned and included in it, how she had a paragraph with a counter point, etc. She was very proud of it and you could see she was very prepared by our school. I asked a couple of her friends about it at softball practice too. They all had similar comments about it being easy and boring. No big deal.

No actually ~28 per teacher and a couple of her classes had more kids than desks so kids had to sit together at a table. And before anyone talks about not having language barriers with the parents the demographic listed on greatschools.com for the middle school is:
Hispanic 47%
White 40%
Asian 8%
Black 4%

All of our forms are in English on one side, Spanish on the other and there is an interpreter that repeats a lot of our parent meetings to Spanish.

36% of the Students are eligible for free or reduced-price lunch program. The state average is 30%. This is not a rich town.

How about poll teachers across the country and ask them their opinion on this highly controversial shift in the way we educate our children? Naaaaa, we should continue to trust the billionaires in charge because they have a great history of being compassionate towards children's needs...

You guys do not have a clue how badly your children's educations are being stolen by politicians pushing standardized testing.

Most of the money you pay in taxes never reaches the classroom. Most goes to testing and all the administrative jobs connected to it.

Imagine if we evaluated doctors like we do teachers? The doctor prescribes a sound dietary plan to a patient and encourages them to lead a healthy lifestyle. They even prescribe medicine to help the patient become a healthier person. But the patient leaves the doctor's office and refuses to listen to his advice or take the medicine that would have helped the patient. Do we blame the doctor for the patient's death? Sould we fire the doctor? Sounds ridiculous right?

Imagine if we evaluate police officers like we do teachers? The police officer patrols a high crime area, gives talks at local schools, but at the end of the day people in the high crime areas continue to commit crimes. Do we blame the police officers in bad areas for the crimes that are committed? Do we go as far to shut down police stations and fire police offices in high crime areas because of the amount of crimes committed? Sounds ridiculous right?

It's only the school teacher that gets evaluated in such an unfair way. The teacher can give the greatest effort the entire year and if the student doesnt take the advice of the teacher, do the homework, or feel like giving an effort on the day of the test then too bad for the teacher, out of a job?

What a ridiculous way to educate children and evaluate their teachers..........

How about poll teachers across the country and ask them their opinion on this highly controversial shift in the way we educate our children? Naaaaa, we should continue to trust the billionaires in charge because they have a great history of being compassionate towards children's needs...

You guys do not have a clue how badly your children's educations are being stolen by politicians pushing standardized testing.

Most of the money you pay in taxes never reaches the classroom. Most goes to testing and all the administrative jobs connected to it.

Imagine if we evaluated doctors like we do teachers? The doctor prescribes a sound dietary plan to a patient and encourages them to lead a healthy lifestyle. They even prescribe medicine to help the patient become a healthier person. But the patient leaves the doctor's office and refuses to listen to his advice or take the medicine that would have helped the patient. Do we blame the doctor for the patient's death? Sould we fire the doctor? Sounds ridiculous right?

Imagine if we evaluate police officers like we do teachers? The police officer patrols a high crime area, gives talks at local schools, but at the end of the day people in the high crime areas continue to commit crimes. Do we blame the police officers in bad areas for the crimes that are committed? Do we go as far to shut down police stations and fire police offices in high crime areas because of the amount of crimes committed? Sounds ridiculous right?

It's only the school teacher that gets evaluated in such an unfair way. The teacher can give the greatest effort the entire year and if the student doesnt take the advice of the teacher, do the homework, or feel like giving an effort on the day of the test then too bad for the teacher, out of a job?

What a ridiculous way to educate children and evaluate their teachers..........

As though the teachers aren't biased, especially after being indoctrinated by the unions. I think the kids are the least biased and they can tell us how difficult and stressful the testing is, how prepared they felt, and if they are learning anything. Look at CRs post. His first inclination was to give my daughter's teacher's credit for her being prepared for the tests. I agree with him. She is in a good school with mostly good teachers but you can't just take credit for the good, you have to accept the blame for the bad as well.

As for the bolded section you are so indoctrinated and removed from the real world that you don't see the folly of your words. Of course these other professionals get derided for the state of their "customers" just as business professionals often lose their jobs based on the perception of their product, sales people, ad campaigns, management or lack there of and stock holders.

Doctors are judged by the degrees they have, the lawsuits they are charged with, the hospitals they work in and word of mouth. Cops are derided and insulted constantly and most feel that there is never a cop around when you need one or that they are only there to clean up the crime scene after the fact.

As though the teachers aren't biased, especially after being indoctrinated by the unions. I think the kids are the least biased and they can tell us how difficult and stressful the testing is, how prepared they felt, and if they are learning anything. Look at CRs post. His first inclination was to give my daughter's teacher's credit for her being prepared for the tests. I agree with him. She is in a good school with mostly good teachers but you can't just take credit for the good, you have to accept the blame for the bad as well.

As for the bolded section you are so indoctrinated and removed from the real world that you don't see the folly of your words. Of course these other professionals get derided for the state of their "customers" just as business professionals often lose their jobs based on the perception of their product, sales people, ad campaigns, management or lack there of and stock holders.

Doctors are judged by the degrees they have, the lawsuits they are charged with, the hospitals they work in and word of mouth. Cops are derided and insulted constantly and most feel that there is never a cop around when you need one or that they are only there to clean up the crime scene after the fact.

You guys have no clue what is really going on in schools, especially inner city.

Here's the thing, there is an all out assault on ANY teacher, good, bad, or indifferent. If you are a teacher and make top salary admistrators are going after you. In NYC Mayor Bloomberg gives bonuses to principals who get rid of top salary teachers whether they are good bad or whatever.

On the contrary, docotors who skrew up get law suits against them, not the doctors who are doing a god job but just happen to make top salary.

As far as cops go, poor things they feel like the community is against them. Tell them to become a teacher, oh wait, thats right, politicians have already vilified all educators and have set up junk data through flawed tests to try and remove them.

Last time I looked, a cop has job security just like a teacher unless they step over the line and are found guilty. The difference is the cops and doctors do not have some ridiculous standard to uphold like a score on an exam just to keep their jobs.

You guys are approaching this as if there is nothing corrupt.

The New York State bar exam, taken by law school graduates, lasts 375 minutes in one sitting, while the state’s assessments for 10-year-old students for math and English last 540 minutes over six days.

You guys have no clue what is really going on in schools, especially inner city.

Here's the thing, there is an all out assault on ANY teacher, good, bad, or indifferent. If you are a teacher and make top salary admistrators are going after you. In NYC Mayor Bloomberg gives bonuses to principals who get rid of top salary teachers whether they are good bad or whatever.

On the contrary, docotors who skrew up get law suits against them, not the doctors who are doing a god job but just happen to make top salary.

As far as cops go, poor things they feel like the community is against them. Tell them to become a teacher, oh wait, thats right, politicians have already vilified all educators and have set up junk data through flawed tests to try and remove them.

Last time I looked, a cop has job security just like a teacher unless they step over the line and are found guilty. The difference is the cops and doctors do not have some ridiculous standard to uphold like a score on an exam just to keep their jobs.

You guys are approaching this as if there is nothing corrupt.

The New York State bar exam, taken by law school graduates, lasts 375 minutes in one sitting, while the state’s assessments for 10-year-old students for math and English last 540 minutes over six days.

You are right I have no idea what is going on in NY schools except what my friend that teaches in Brooklyn tells me. This post is about NJ schools and testing in general. My 10 year old is taking the tests this week. She says it is easy and boring. Nothing like the horror stories you complain about.

As for my friend from Brooklyn, he says the school is a zoo and he is just biding his time until retirement, for the kids of course.

You are right I have no idea what is going on in NY schools except what my friend that teaches in Brooklyn tells me. This post is about NJ schools and testing in general. My 10 year old is taking the tests this week. She says it is easy and boring. Nothing like the horror stories you complain about.

As for my friend from Brooklyn, he says the school is a zoo and he is just biding his time until retirement, for the kids of course.

I am happy your daughter is confident and look forward to hearing her scores.

Why can't we all agree that schools, administrators and teachers are just like companies, executives and employees? There are great ones, average ones and sucky ones.

For a myriad of reasons.

You know the strange thing - that's pretty much what all of the "conservative" posters on here have been saying. It's the very premise of testing and teacher evaluations - that there's such a thing as a great teacher and such a thing as a terrible teacher, and that the impact of a great teacher (or the negative impact of a terrible one) can be discerned to at least some extent via objective measures.

The only folks who seem to disagree on this are the Teachers Union shills, who seem to think that every teacher is at least average. (Welcome to Lake Woebegone)

You guys have no clue what is really going on in schools, especially inner city.

Here's the thing, there is an all out assault on ANY teacher, good, bad, or indifferent. If you are a teacher and make top salary admistrators are going after you. In NYC Mayor Bloomberg gives bonuses to principals who get rid of top salary teachers whether they are good bad or whatever.

On the contrary, docotors who skrew up get law suits against them, not the doctors who are doing a god job but just happen to make top salary.

As far as cops go, poor things they feel like the community is against them. Tell them to become a teacher, oh wait, thats right, politicians have already vilified all educators and have set up junk data through flawed tests to try and remove them.

Last time I looked, a cop has job security just like a teacher unless they step over the line and are found guilty. The difference is the cops and doctors do not have some ridiculous standard to uphold like a score on an exam just to keep their jobs.

You guys are approaching this as if there is nothing corrupt.

The New York State bar exam, taken by law school graduates, lasts 375 minutes in one sitting, while the state’s assessments for 10-year-old students for math and English last 540 minutes over six days.

I don't think we get them until the summer. I'll try to remember to post them.

You are correct Trades, the scores do not come until summer making these test an even more waste of money, time, and energy. By the time scores are graded your daughter will have already been already promoted to the next grade! Ask yourself, how does this really help?

The "over" testing is such a waste of tax payers money and has proved nothing other than making school a less enjoyable task for children than it already had been.

Only in a America can we take away from enriching subjects to hold ONE test (and all the test prep materials before and after) the most important thing about school.

Ask school kids if they like writing essays in phys ed and music or if they'd rather be exercising and actually playing an instrument.

ROFLMAO!!!!!! So what you are saying is that adults studying for the BAR EXAM only test for two days and a 3d grader has to sit and test for SIX DAYS??!!!

Yeah, nothing wrong here

BTW, the billionaires who have attached their names to testing (Gates, Bush, Bloomberg) and politicians looking to profit by joining these companies after they leave politics love people who defend the over testing of our nations children.

Because when I think of people that care about children, I think of corporate billionaires rather that an educator who dedicated their careers to teaching knowing they will never be wealthy.

You are correct Trades, the scores do not come until summer making these test an even more waste of money, time, and energy. By the time scores are graded your daughter will have already been already promoted to the next grade! Ask yourself, how does this really help?

The "over" testing is such a waste of tax payers money and has proved nothing other than making school a less enjoyable task for children than it already had been.

Only in a America can we take away from enriching subjects to hold ONE test (and all the test prep materials before and after) the most important thing about school.

Ask school kids if they like writing essays in phys ed and music or if they'd rather be exercising and actually playing an instrument.

But they don't do that at my kids schools. They still have gym, art and band and aren't pulled out of those classes for test prep because the tests are based on what the kids have been learning all year. You really need to get out of the school you work in and see what the rest of the country is doing.